Gifts Ungiven in Control Slaver: What to Gifts for?

[undertaker229]

My first post... Sorry if this thread has already been discussed, but I'd look for it all over the net, and have found none.

I've seen everywhere that the Control Slaver decklist are adding Gifts Ungiven to the deck.

I dont have too much experience with the Slaver, so when I playtest my deck with Gifts, it was very difficult for me to know what to Gifts for, and ended up most of the time ruining myself.

MD Gifts is focussed basically in getting the Time Walk, Recoup, Tinker, Will combo, and I don't have such a clear focus in Control Slaver, so I guess it's kind of a situational choice.

As a little help then, I wanted to know when you play Control Slaver (with Gifts), what do you guys Gifts for, and under what circumstances?

 :shock:

[Harlequin]

Hello, and Welcome to the TMD Community!

I think it really matters what your running for alternate winconditions AND most importantly if your running Burning Wish or not. 

Here is a lengthy (6page) thread that primarily discusses Burning Wish in Slaver:
http://www.themanadrain.com/index.php?topic=27795.0
In that thread, there is definately alot of valuable information about the subtlety and finepoints of slaver.  Also there is some discussion of Gift's Piles, and what is right and wrong for certain deck lists.  Hope you enjoy!

As for what "you" should be gifting for.  A decklist would certainly be helpful.  Even if you do not have one built yet, referanceing someone elses list will give people a starting point on the sugession.  Good luck, and again, Welcome!

[roberts91rom]

CS does not rely on Gifts Ungiven and fetching Gift's combo pile. Whenever I cast Gifts in my CS deck I always fetch what I need to seal the game. I also run Vampiric Tutor in my deck which allows me to fetch something like Welder, Ancestral, Vampiric, Demonic. There is no "set" Slaver pile. Every time I cast Gifts I fetch a slightly different pile. Welder is usually the focus if I do not have a Welder in play, if I need an answer I will fetch the answer and if the game is down to the wire I fetch a pile that either guarantees Will or almost as much brokenness.

[klu]

I also run Vampiric Tutor in my deck which allows me to fetch something like Welder, Ancestral, Vampiric, Demonic

My question : what is the welder expect to do in that pile  :shock:
If you are running vampiric tutor, you should be gifting for mystical, vampiric, demonic and lotus/trall (with a few things in your graveyard), it just allows you to cast ywill in the next turns (including mystical or vampiric on walk).. with only 4 mana on board, you win the game casting a single gift.

[roberts91rom]

You have to realise that you won't always have a graveyard set for you to win with Will. Piles with Welder are usually in the first 2-3 turns where if Welder gets online the game ends very quickly. Having Will in hand waiting for it to go off is just asking to get hit by Duress. The pile you listed requires me not having drawn any of those 4 restricted cards (because I usually hit a TfK or 2 before I hit Gifts), but me having drawn Gifts. In the pile you listed I would gladly give you Mystical and Lotus, knowing that you only have 1 threat from that pile. With Welder, Recall, 2xTutors you give me 2 threats no matter what. Obviously if I can set up a game-breaking Will I will attempt to do so. The pile I suggested is merely an example that your whole deck does not have to resolve around Will, due to the high amount of other broken cards you can fetch. An online Welder usually means gg whether or not I also get Will.

The point I was trying to emphasise is that there are MANY Gifts piles for such a diverse deck like Control Slaver. Not just Will, Recoup, Walk, Tinker.

[undertaker229]

Thanks for all the help so far... this is my current decklist:

Control Slaver

1 Black Lotus
1 Crucible Of Worlds
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mana Vault
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Sol Ring

1 Pentavus
1 Darksteel Colossus
1 Triskelion

4 Goblin Welder

1 Ancestral Recall
4 Brainstorm
1 Echoing Truth
1 Fact Or Fiction
4 Force Of Will
1 Gifts Ungiven
4 Mana Drain
1 Mystical Tutor
4 Thirst For Knowledge

1 Mindslaver

1 Demonic Tutor
1 Merchant Scroll
1 Time Walk
1 Tinker
1 Yawgmoth's Will

2 Island
1 Snow-Covered Island
3 Flooded Strand
2 Polluted Delta
1 Strip Mine
2 Underground Sea
4 Volcanic Island
1 Tolarian Academy

[warble]

There are typically about 5 gifts stacks I use:

1) To set up Yawgmoth's will

option a: mana

Black Lotus, Mana Crypt, Tolarian Academy/Mana Vault, Lotus Petal

opion b: colored mana

mox sapphire/ruby, black lotus, lotus petal, mox jet

option c: time walk tinker

Time Walk, Tinker, Black Lotus, Ancestral Recall

option d: welder walk mana (the earliest stack you will probably use)

time walk, goblin welder, black lotus, lotus petal/ancestral recall

2) To search for Yawgmoth's will

Demonic Tutor, Mystical Tutor, Vampiric Tutor, Tinker/Black Lotus/Ancestral/Time Walk

3) To gain early card or board advantage in a control mirror:

option a: mana

sol ring, tolarian academy/strip mine, mana crypt/crucible of worlds, black lotus/mox sapphire,ruby or jet

option b: cards

thirst for knowledge, fact or fiction, demonic tutor, merchant scroll

4) To get a counter:

mana drain, force of will, merchant scroll/tinker, ancestral recall/demonic tutor

This is one of the most costly stacks because you lose merchant scroll and recall or two other cards that are bombs.  Another option is:

mana drain, force of will, brainstorm, mystical tutor.  Less sucky, but requires mana and cards and leads to card disadvantage

5) To feed my welder:

Pentavus, Triskelion
Pentavus, Mindslaver

I have a feeling that is what you were looking for.  Concise, and all of those stacks are useful.  Most stacks contain a card a/card b choice that is typically dependant on both whether or not cards a or b will hurt your opponent, and whether you want to get card a/card b or another card in the stack.  Enjoy.  Remember, sometimes you want to get gifts countered EoT to set up cards listed in the stacks in your hand that will win more easily than cards you can gifts for.  It's not always about resolving gifts, sometimes it's baiting gifts and resolving Thirst for Knowledge that wins the game.

[JR]

When playing slaver, I think you have to keep in mind that gifts is most often a one of. Keeping this in mind, you can't use it like you can in a dedicated gifts deck, in which you know you have more than one to set up your win. I think gifts functions alot like FoF does in slaver: It is a busted blue spell that usually puts you ahead enough to win. Many times, I will gifts for something like welder/TFK/demonic/vampiric, which in my opinion is as close to a combo gifts as you will find in slaver, because it either finds you will or gets you major card advantage engine up and running.

Also, although you are running the pentavus lock, it is good to keep in mind that you can just gifts for two cards, which in many of the versions which run crucible can establish your lock immediately.

Hope this helped some, but keep in mind these are specific and gifts is very situational, especially in control slaver.

[undertaker229]

Also, although you are running the pentavus lock, it is good to keep in mind that you can just gifts for two cards, which in many of the versions which run crucible can establish your lock immediately.

As Im using the CoW for Stripmine, I wondered if I could replace a land with Darksteel Citadel, in order to have both the Pentavus and the CoW lock, whichever may I play first. Does this weak the deck? Thanks for all the info so far!! It´s difficult to know exactly what to gift for... I used to put Will in the 4 cards choice, and now I realize I have to put cards that get me Will, or make it work better... the double entomb is also a nice play

[chrissss]

thanks for the example warble.

god I need Power 9 cards ...

*goes to eebay*